Refrigerant container



July 10,1928. 1,676,494

I G- J. GRUENDLER REFRIGERANT CONTAINER Filed Aug. 2, 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 July 10, 1928 G.. J. GRUENDLER REFRIGERANT CONTAINER Filed Aug. 2, 1926 3Sheets-Sheet 2 gas/61 d Q? July 10, 1928.

Filed Aug. 2, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet I! Illll'lll Patented July 10, 1928.

OFFICE.

GUSTAV J. GRUENDLER,

OF CLAYTON, MISSOURI.

nnraionaau'r couramnn.

Application filed August 2, 1926. Serial No. 126,655.

My invention relates to refrigerant containers and more particularly to refrigerant containers such as are used with complementary cooling apparatus to cool the interior of refrigerators.

Heretofore when a refrigerant container was adapted to be filled with brine and was cooled by a cooling coil of any of the well known types in which certain chemicals are first compressed and then allowed to expand in the coil the brine was a dead body which did not circulate or move and consequently although the brine around the cooling coil was cooled the temperature of the entire body of brine was not lowered very much and the walls of the container remained comparatively warm. Further, if the refrigerant container was made with a plurality of spaced sections so that with a given outside dimension a maximum area of cooling surface could be obtained, the coil was usuallyplaced in one ofv the sections and no adequate means was provided whereby when the brine in that section having the cooling coil therein was cooled'it was allowed to flow into the other sections to equalize the temperature throughout the whole container. Also, in

' refrigerant containers of this type no adequate means for allowing a rising and falling of air through the container has been provided.

The objects of my invention are to provide a refrigerant container more particularly adapted for use with a cooling coil and constructed and arranged whereby a circulation of brine throughout the whole container is allowed; and to provide a refrigerant container in which a vertical and horizontal circulation of air throughout the whole container is provided.

My invention is fully shown in the accompanying drawings wherein Figs. 1 and 2 are a plan and elevation, respectively; Fig. 3 is a section along the line 3-3 of F ig. 1; Fig. 4 is a section along the line 44.-

of Fig. 1; and Figs. 5 and 6 showa-modified form of the'refrigerant container. In order that the' parts may be clearly shown the containers are not shown filled with brine although they are filledwhen in operationas explained below.

Referring to the figures, both forms.

of refrigerant container shown therein as embodying my invention are preferably madeof metal, .are arranged to be substantially filled with brine and have an upper portion 1 open at the top and a lower portion divided into a-plurality of legs extending downwardly from each of the embodiments shown there are downwardly extendin side legs 2 and an Intermediate leg 3. hese' legs are closed at their lower ends so that the brine in the refrigerant container will be held therein and are, preferably, spaced apart to form air spaces 4 extending through the refrigerant container as clearly shown in the figures. The air spaces are openalon the bottom of the container, have their sidies formed by the walls of adjacent legs, and have the upper wall 4 thereof positioned substantially the upper portion. In

midway the top and bottom of the refrigerv ant container. Positioned in the upper portion 1 1s a cooling coil- 5 with the coil pipes 6 thereof extending downwardly in the intermediate leg 3. The cooling coil 5 has the thenreturns to the compressor through the.

outlet pipe of the cooling coil. I

A plurality of air ducts 10 lead through the upper portion 1 into the air spaces 4. In these embodiments of my invention the air ducts are arranged substantially vertically and have the upper ends thereof terminating just below the'top of the refrigerant container but above the normal level of brine in the container which is as indicated bythe clotted lines in Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. The lower end of the ducts 10 opens through the upper wall 4 of theair spaces 4. Braces 11 extending between adjacent 'air ducts Y10 and between the end air ducts and the side walls of the upper portion 1 ma be provided to prevent the-air ducts from position by any slight shock or movement of the brine in the container.

Passages are provided between the down-' mg bent out of wardlyextending legs 2 and 3. and these passages provide communication between the legs to allow allow of brine from the intermediate leg 3, preferably from the lower end thereof, into the adjacent legs all for the purpose more fully'hereinafter'set forth. In these embodiments of my invention these passages are in the form of tubes 12 extending between adjacent-legs andarranged as shown in the figures. I prefer; that a. plurality of tubes be provided.

In the form of my invention shown in Figs. '1 to 4, inclusive the coil pipes 6 extend into the intermediate leg 3 for only a portion of their length. In the modified form of my invention shown in Figs. 5 and 6,. the air spaces 4 extendfurther towards the top of therefrigerant container so that substantially the entire length of the coil .pipes 6 is positioned and extends downwardly in the intermediate leg 3, as shown. The use and operation of a-reifrigerant container embodying my invention as followsz.

After a container has been filled with brine to the point indicated, the cooling coil 5 is started in operation, and, since the coil is positioned in the upper portion 1 and the intermediate leg 3 and extends downwardly .in this le the brine in the intermediate leg 3 WlllTm cooled first and as the brine is cooled it will drop downwardly in the leg and when it has reached substantially the lower end thereof will pass outwardly through the tubes 12 into the side legs 2. The comparatively warm brine in the upper portion of'the side legs 2 will be forced up wardly b this movement and the brine at the top 0 the side legs in the upper portion 1 will move inwardly towards the space above the intermediate leg 3 where it is cooled by the coolin coil 5, and this brine then moves downwar ly in the intermediate leg 3 to complete the circulation. It will be readily seen that a circulation of the brine is set up downwardly in the intermediate leg 3, out wardly through the tubes 12, upwardly in the side legs 2, and inwardl at the top of the side legs into the intermet iate leg 3, with a resultant equalization of the temperature of the brine in the container. Asthe brine in the container is cooled and, in turn, the walls of the refrigerant container are cooled the air in the refrigerator in whichthe refrigerant container is laced will be cooled and will fall downwar ly around the refrigerant container and some of the air -above erant container and the low temperature of thefcooling coil 5 is thereby conducted to the metallic walls of the container.

It may be readily seen that the details of construction of a device embodyingmy invention may be varied in arrangement, size and shape within wide limits without deviating from the spirit-of the claims included below.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A refrigerant container-for refrigerators comprising a plurality of vertically disposed legs adapted to contain brine, means to contain brine, a cooling coil positioned in said upper portion and extending-downwardly into one of said legs, and said legs having bommunicating passages for theflow of brine therebetween.

3. A refrigerant container for refrige'rators comprising an upper portion with a plurality of legs extending downwardly therefrom, said legs being adapted to contain brine and being spaced apart to form an air space extending through said container, a

cooling coil extending downwardly in one of said legs to cool the brine therein, and one or,more tubes extending between said legs and arranged whereby brine may flow from the lower end of said leg having the cooling coil therein into the other of said legs.

4. A refrigerant container for refrigerators comprising an upper portion with three legs extending downwardlytherefrom, said legs being spaced apart to form a plurality of air spaces extending through said container, a cooling coil positioned in'the intermediate of said legs, and a plurality of tubes extending between the lower end of said intermediate leg and the leg at each side thereof and arranged so that brine may flow from said intermediate leg into the other of said legs.

5. A refrigerant container for refrigerators comprising a plurality of spaced legs, said container being adapted and arranged to provide communication between said legs at the upper and lower ends thereof, and a cooling coil positioned in one of said legs to cool the brine therein.

6. A refrigerant container for refrigerators comprising three spaced legs, said container being adapted and arranged to provide communication between said legs at the upper and lower ends thereof and a coolilng coil positioned in the intermediate of said egs.

In witness whereof I have signed-my name to this specification.

. GUSTAV J. GRUENDLER. 

